Singing Back the Buffalo (dir. Tasha Hubbard, 2024)
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Event details
Presented by the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies and the 19th Native Spirit Film Festival, with additional financial support provided by the Leverhulme Trust-funded Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre.
The film screening will start at 6.30pm after a short introduction, and will be followed by an online Discussion/Q&A with director Tasha Hubbard.
In a time of immense environmental degradation and global uncertainty, the buffalo can lead us to a better tomorrow. After a dark recent history, the buffalo herds of North America are awaiting their return, aided by dedicated Indigenous activists, leaders and communities, including award-winning Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard (nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up). Together with Blackfoot Elder Leroy Little Bear, Hubbard weaves an intimate story of humanity’s connections to buffalo and eloquently reveals how their return to the Great Plains can indeed usher in a new era of sustainability and balance. On her journey, Hubbard explores the challenges faced by buffalo allies and shares the positive steps already taken towards the ultimate – but uncertain – goal of buffalo rematriation. Vividly portrayed and profoundly inspiring, Singing Back the Buffalo is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp.
Dr. Tasha Hubbard (Director)
Dr. Tasha Hubbard (Director) is a Cree filmmaker and an associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies and the Department of English and Film at the University of Alberta. Tasha is from Peepeekisis First Nation in Treaty Four Territory and has ties to Thunderchild First Nation in Treaty Six Territory. She is also the mother of a seventeen year-old son. She researches and champions Indigenous efforts to restore the buffalo, has been a supporter of the Buffalo Treaty since 2015, and is a founding board member of the International Buffalo Relations Institute. Her films Two Worlds Colliding, Birth of a Family and nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up have screened around the world and won numerous awards, including the Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2020. Her work has led to recognition from the Directors Guild of Canada, who awarded her with the Discovery Award in 2019.